AIRBORNE INVASION OF RANGOON BY 50TH PARACHUTE BRIGADE (1/5/1945)

Synopsis

Gurkha paratroopers seen gearing up and boarding their aircraft before parachuting into action near Rangoon, Burma, as part of Operation Dracula.

A line of parked United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Douglas Dakota (C-47 Skytrain) transport aircraft. Paratroops gearing up. A British sergeant adjusts his leg straps. A Gurkha soldier sees to his pack; a kukri lies nearby. A Gurkha sergeant adjusts his harness. Paratroops adjusting their gear with a parked USAAF…

Gurkha paratroopers seen gearing up and boarding their aircraft before parachuting into action near Rangoon, Burma, as part of Operation Dracula.

A line of parked United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Douglas Dakota (C-47 Skytrain) transport aircraft. Paratroops gearing up. A British sergeant adjusts his leg straps. A Gurkha soldier sees to his pack; a kukri lies nearby. A Gurkha sergeant adjusts his harness. Paratroops adjusting their gear with a parked USAAF Dakota behind. A nose of a Dakota showing the name 'Gravel Gertie'; a Republic Thunderbolt fighter, with a dark cowling band and a similar band on its tail, taxis in the background. The nose of 'Gravel Gertie'. A British paratrooper with 'Jinx' and 'Men from Mars' written on his helmet. Six paratroopers walk off wearing their parachutes. Men sat waiting by a Dakota. Men, without their equipment, board a Dakota and practise their exit from the aircraft by jumping out the door. A British man wearing parachute wings on his shirt, a helmet, and epaulettes that read 'Official Photographer'. Close-up of the parachute wings, evidently recently and hurriedly stitched on. Line of parked Dakotas. A man boards. Nineteen Dakotas airborne, in close formation, three abreast. Dakotas peel off one-by-one. A Dakota taxiing; its rear fuselage is marked with forward-leaning white stripes (1st Air Commando Group?). More Dakotas taxiing. Men at work on the underside of a Dakota (fitting a parachute supply canister?). Paratroops waiting to emplane and emplaning. As the men board a white major of the Parachute Regiment watches. Paras waiting to board with an Ordnance QF 40mm Bofors gun visible in the distance. Footage from onboard one of the Dakotas showing the port propeller spinning. Coastal surf from low altitude. Air-to-air footage of another Dakota, in close formation, with the diagonal stripes described earlier and a '?' (question mark) insignia on the tail, denoting 319th Troop Carrier Squadron (Commando). Interior footage of the Dakota with waiting paratroops. More air-to-air footage. Paratroopers on their feet waiting to jump. Paratroopers leaving the aircraft. Pilot at the controls. Air-to-air over clouds. A river below clouds. Pilots in the cockpit.

Notes

No dopesheet for this film, so some details as to date and location are unclear. However, it seems likely that this footage shows the airborne landings against Rangoon on 1 May 1945. Unit involved is therefore a Gurkha parachute battalion of 50th Indian Parachute Brigade, with aircraft from 317th and 319th Troop Carrier Squadrons (of 2nd and 1st Air Commando Group, 10th Air Force respectively) and detachments from 2nd and 4th Combat Cargo Squadrons (1st Combat Cargo Group) emplaning at Akyab and dropping on Elephant Point. This brigade was attached to XV Corps and jumping in support of Operation Dracula, the amphibious invasion of Rangoon.

Jumpmasters for these parachute drops were apparently drawn from Royal Canadian Air Force transport squadrons (RCAF 435 Squadron and RCAF 436 Squadron), so some of the 'British' personnel identified above may in fact be Canadians.

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Production Organisations

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